The Importance of You

It's been a while since I've blogged and I've been missing it, so here we are.
Today I want to talk a little bit about me. Earlier I watched the movie 27 Dresses. If you haven't seen it, then go watch it. It's great. Long story short, this girl has been a bridesmaid her entire life and is constantly helping and taking care of pther people. At one point, her sister forms a relationship with the man that she (the main character) is in love with. They get engaged and the main character- Jane- assists in all the wedding plans even though she hates it, because her life has always been about pleasing other people. This guy Kevin comes along and starts helping Jane realize that eventually she's got to take her life into her own hands. Jane later confesses to her sister's fiance that her sister has been lying about herself the whole time, because Jane couldn't allow her sister to be someone she isn't, and she falls in love with Kevin and blah blah blah.

First of all, I am this girl. My life has always been about making other people happy and worrying about other people. My mood is a reflection of others and I am always stressing out about every detail and I never really know how to make myself happy. Even when I do, I can't because I'm always worried about something else.

Kevin comes along and tells Jane that she's got to get over this drive for perfection. She spends all of her time worrying about all of these different situations and doing all of her work and pleasing other people and aiming for perfection, but she never does anything that she really wants to do for herself. This is how I have always been. I am a perfectionist. I want everything to be perfect and I want everyone to be happy all the time. Even when they are people I hate, I can't be happy if they aren't. When someone wrongs me, I can't be at peace until I have made the situation okay, even if it means me apologizing even though I am not the one who was in the wrong.

So Kevin tells Jane to stop and think about herself for once. He teaches her that life shouldn't be about making other people happy, but about making yourself happy. Even typing that kills me. How can you be happy when other people aren't? And what if my happiness impedes on other people's happiness? I mean, I get the movie. Move on. Be happy. Don't about problems that aren't yours.

Easier said than done.

When Jane finally takes a stand against her sister, Kevin points out that she has finally aimed for something other than perfection. And though Jane was not entirely sure she made the right decision, her best friend points out that if she feels good after making it, then she knows it's the right one.

So moral of the story: it's okay to want things to go as planned and to want everything to work out, but that doesn't mean it always will. You have to be okay with that, (which is my problem.) You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. If good things aren't happening, then make them happen. But don't always be doing it for someone else. It's okay to want to make people happy, but you need to make yourself happy. You are the most important person in your life and you can't put yourself aside. Be happy, have fun, and don't worry about little things.

The Things We Still Remember

The Things We Still Remember

We keep best friends in 5 places

1. Our mothers' costume jewelry boxes we used in elementary school

            a) plastic earrings

            b) halloween rings

2. Beneath pillows and blankets of summertime whispers

3. Across the lines of our diaries

            -the ones we like to go back to every once in a while

4. In our palms, painted over purple nail polish

5. In pictures, notes, colored pencils, strawberries, hair ties and lemonade

            ie: things we keep in the back of our mind until the next rainy day

"Where words kiss melodies so deeply."

Have you ever read, watched, or performed slam poetry? Because if you haven’t, then you should.

I first experienced it in high school for the first time and fell in love with it. It’s different than music. There’s a beat, and there’s words, but the words never get overpowered by any music. And the words aren’t just words; they’re stories and feelings and tragedies and dreams and all of these things that make you want to throw away your life and become an artist.

It’s an art what these people do. In high school I decided to take a poetry elective, and I was pretty good. I would write all these different things and the teacher would say he liked them and I was pretty proud. Then one year he asked me to join the competition team, so I went to the meeting and read a poem for everyone…and they just stared.

See it’s not about writing a poem and then reading it. You have to take all of the emotion in that poem and throw it out there, throw it at all of your listeners.

But slams poems, they’re so much more. They’re no Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson. They come in all shapes and sizes, all rhythms and languages, and they hit you like a brick wall. These writers make you understand them and understand you and sometimes I just wish that before college and before senior year, I had just dropped everything and become one of them.

After I read my poem for the group, the teacher told me I needed so much practice that I couldn’t read for him again until I was ready. So I practiced every day during my lunch period. But you see, I have this wall up. I hate showing emotion, and I hate being eccentric because I have a fear of judgment. So I took this friend I had, this girl who had no reservations and was nothing but theatrical on a daily basis, and made her turn me into her. So I read my pieces to her every day and she would yell at me and get the emotion to come out of me until I was no longer reading the poems, I was performing them.

Seriously, these people are great. And it’s not all just emotional crap, it’s fear and excitement and comedy and romance and everything in 3 and a half minutes. Listen to them. They speak wisdom and they speak the truth.

I swear.

“They say it takes twice as long to forget as it did to get to know. So now I’m sitting here talking about 6 days down, and six more years to go.” –Rafael Casal, First Week of a Breakup

“I am missing you most in the silence between songs on my favorite records. Sometimes it takes too long for the music to start.” –Andrea Gibson

“I can’t write my way through this bathroom door, so I raise my hand in class cuz I can’t stand it anymore.” –Rafael Casal, Barbie and Ken 101

“Rock out like you get paid to disturb the peace.” –Anis Mojgani, Rock Out

“I’m done being seized and I’m seizing my chances.” –George Watsky

“This was a very special place with very special stores that I had never seen before, where I could buy anything that I wanted to try: wings that make me fly, and Courage to make me try.” –Poetri, The Store

My Return to The Land of Stories

Just a few days ago, The Land of Stories 2, by my idol Chris Colfer, came out and so of course I immediately bought it. I published a few posts on how good the first one was and let me tell you, I didn't know how much more he could do after exposing all the secrets he created behind the fairy tales, but he surpassed my expectations. 

So to summarize the first book, Alex and Conner, the protagonists, wound up in TLOS (the land of stories) and had to complete the wishing spell to get out. In doing so, the crossed the paths of major fairy tale characters and found out the true stories behind them all. The biggest one that carried over into the 2nd book was the tale of Goldilocks, Jack the Giant Slayer, and Red Riding Hood. In the first TLOS, it was explained that Red was in love with Jack who was in love with Goldi, so Red played a prank on Goldi by getting her to go into the three bears house which led to Goldi's arrest and life as an outlaw. 

Anyways, the story picks up again with Alex and Conner sneaking into TLOS when they find out the Evil Enchantress, who happens to be the pupil of the Evil Queen (from Snow White) in the first book, and is also responsible for many of the curses in the fairy tale world including the prince being turned into a beast and the woman being turned into a magical harp, etc. 

Colfer revealed so much about the true nature of the fairy tale characters, that I didn't think there was anything left to expose, but boy was I wrong. One of my favorites comes from the tale of Cinderella; everyone's favorite princess. Alex and Conner visit the wicked stepmother who explains to them that she was so in love with Cinderella's father, whom Cinderella was the spitting image of, and when he died, the stepmother couldn't bear to look at Cinderella because it reminded her of her husband, so she gave Cinderella chores that would make her dirty and unrecognizable, and kept her in the basement so she wouldn't have to be reminded of her loss. 

I spoke in my previous posts about how humorous Colfer made the book. And of course he did it again. My favorite part was also in the tale of the stepmother. She explained how after the Cinderella ordeal, the people of the kingdom grew to hate she and her daughters and would make up stupid tales about them like saying that the girls had tried to cut their toes off to fit into the glass slippers in order to marry the prince. The irony in this is that, that was true. In the original Brothers Grimm tale, that is what happens. And I enjoyed how Colfer made it a joke in this present-day fairy tale. 

Another interesting revelation came with the introduction of Rumpelstiltskin who was not in the first book. It turns out that in TLOS 2, Rumpelstiltskin confronts his family members whom he betrayed when he went to work for the evil queen. Who are these family members? Well the seven dwarfs of course! Rumpelstiltskin is himself a dwarf and turns out he's the 8th brother (in TLOS anyway). 

In previous posts I spoke about how I loved that Colfer was able to relate all the Prince Charmings: four brothers, Chance, Chase, Charlie, and Chandler. In TLOS 2, he seemingly easily relates two of the most famous princesses: Sleeping Beauty and Belle. It is revealed that the evil Enchantress had been in love with a prince who did not love her back, so she turned him into the Beast. However when the 'beauty' fell in love with him, the curse wore off. Everyone told the tale of Beauty and the Beast and so the name Beauty became a family name, which stuck for later generations, including the second Queen Beauty, the granddaughter, Sleeping Beauty. Freaking brilliant. 

Finally, I point out how I love that Colfer takes old tales but makes them present day. I was secretly hoping that Peter Pan would make an appearance in the book despite the fact that he is not a Grimm Brother/ HC Anderson tale, and got excited that B and the B was in there because neither is that, but I only partially got my wish. In the end, Alex is met with her favorite and most easily relatable fairytale characters: Wendy Darling, Lucy Pevensie, Dorothy Gale, and Alice from Wonderland. These are the most recent fairytales of our time, but we don't often consider them fairytales because they are so young in comparison. 

Finally, I give all my admiration to Colfer who has done what others can't. In explaining why the Enchantress did what she did, she discusses how she was forced to leave the royal council because she was ridiculed by those who were jealous of her, and when they became threatened that she had more talent than them, they replaced her with someone who was most simply more popular and prettier. 
"The world always listens to a pretty face over an average one."
Amen. We all try to ignore this simple fact, but it stands true. Despite our efforts to say that looks don't matter as much as brains or heart, we know it's not true. I cannot tell you how many times I have been passed over for something because of someone else who was prettier than me, and I applaud Chris Colfer for using a fairy tale to point out a most obvious fact of our world today. Thanks Chris.

All in all, two thumbs up. Colfer again managed adventure, excitement, genius, mystery, and magic. Can't wait for more. 

Make It a Smash

Smash.
The TV Show.
I just wanted to share my opinion of this show because it got such bad reviews and was cancelled and I have no idea why. I guess it would be because the only people who appreciated it were those who appreciate Broadway itself.

For those of you who never heard of it, Smash was an NBC TV show all about Broadway. Season 1 focused on making a musical about Marilyn Monroe. The main characters included the producers, directors, actors, writers and everyone who takes part in the making of a musical. The second season followed these same people as they moved on to new shows and went through Broadway life.

What I loved about the show was that the actors weren't TV actors, they were all Broadway stars: Christian Borle of Legally Blonde the Musical, Megan Hilty of Wicked, Jeremy Jordan of Newsies, Krista Rodriguez of the Addams Family, and so many more, including big Hollywood names like Jack Davenport, Debra Messing, and Angelica Huston. I probably would have been disappointed if there weren't Broadway people in it.

There's nothing better than Broadway, but it's kind of hard to go to New York City to see a show whenever you're in the mood, not to mention how expensive the shows are, so it was kind of nice to get a weekly bit of Broadway. I think if people took the time to watch the show then they would grow to love the theater like I do.

So what makes the theater so spectacular? It's not like movies or TV or even books. When you watch a show, well you do just that, watch. But when you go to Broadway show, you are right there in the room with those people and as cliche as it sounds, it is almost as if you yourself are a part of the show. Also, Broadway performers have more talent than anyone else. They don't need autotuning, they don't need multiple takes, and they have so much passion and they just put it all out there on the stage.

You know when you watch a really good movie and it's just so inspirational and at the end you just feel so happy and want to go out and do good things? That's the feeling I get after EVERY Broadway show. That's what the theater does. For 3 hours you get to escape the world for a while and be a part of someone else's dream, and their dreams inspire your own.

It's great music, acting, drama: everything. So why was the show cancelled? As much as I hate conflict, I had to look up why people think it was cancelled.
The first reason I read was that it had too many plot lines: Karen and Ivy fighting for roles, Julia's dissolving marriage, Tom's first real relationship, Eileen's first time as a solo producer. So what? Isn't that life? No one ever has just one problem at a time. Every day we wake up with a whole day full of big changes. Maybe the viewers thought that the focus was on too many people, but it should have been. You can't throw all of these amazing Broadway people onto one show and expect the focus to be on one or two of them. They are all amazing and all should be seen.
Another reason I read was the changes in Season 2. The first season was all about Marilyn the musical and the songs were typical Broadway songs. In Season 2, the main character Karen starts working on a show that has a bit of a Pop vibe and viewers didn't like the change. THAT'S THEATER. It is constantly changing and that is what makes it so exciting. No show is the same, and if they were then they wouldn't be as good as they are. That's all there is to it.

In all honesty, I think the problem was that average TV watchers don't have the appreciation for the theater that it deserves. They complained about the constantly changing plots, the shifts in genre, and so on. But in doing so, they completely overlooked the magic behind the show itself: the music, the story, the love, the drama and the beauty that is Broadway musicals.

If you don't want to watch the show then fine, but go to Broadway. Go see it for yourself. It will change you, I promise that.

Not Like the Movies

I want to take a second to talk about movies. Pretty common topic right? I don't mean what specific movies I like or types of movies or anything. I want to talk about what movies do for me; the effect they have on me. I might be a little self-righteous for a bit but bear with me.

I spend so much of my time worrying and stressing about all the bad things in my life and don't get me wrong, it's something I need to do, but every time I watch a movie, it's like for five seconds I can just forget about all that negativity and bask in the positive influences of some really good film.

Now I'm a romantic comedy kind of girl. I mean, what girl isn't? And yes, I want my life to be like a movie. We all do. And every time I watch some really good movie it just makes me happy because the possibility is out there. And that's the thing- maybe it's not.

I may not have a true love or a longtime best friend or a spontaneous adventure. But that doesn't matter. Movies simply allow those things to exist as an idea. And so what if right now I don't have them? As long as those things exist in theory, it stands to reason that they have the potential to exist in reality.

I may still have no idea what to do with my life, but Sandra Bullock showed me that it's possible to be both Miss America and a Special Agent. And I may have yet to have a boyfriend, but Jennifer Garner showed me that some people don't find the one until they're 30. Yes those are movies, and I'm not so delusional that I believe they are the most realistic reality.

But so what? I'm not the only one who has seen these movies, and surely I am not the only one who takes them to heart. So doesn't it stand to reason that all of us can believe in these 'theories'?

I mean, Peter Pan taught us that fairies will be real so long as we believe in them. Can't it be the same for movies?
At least the rom-com's anyway.

Small Town USA

I've been wanting to rant about this topic for a long time. A month or so ago I came across a facebook page all about hating the city and the town that I live in.

For those of you who live in small, rural towns, you know what it's like. We have a lot of hicks, a lot of drug use, and lot of people who don't have a lot of money and don't show much respect for themselves. And yeah, a lot of people hate this aspect of our town...so why use the internet to publicize it?

This facebook page is a bunch of different memes that make fun of the people in my town and county and I hate it. Yes we have lots of problems, but doesn't every small town? Why stereotype the entire city but one group of people.

And you know what? I love where I live. We have lots of popular festivals, holiday parades, art shows, and even Gusmacker. All these events bring our town together...rich and poor, old and young, druggies and high class. My town is fun and friendly and pretty and I think that it is ridiculous that so many people are behind this facebook page.

Someone even wrote an article about it in the town paper about how upset it made them and what happened? The people on the page loved it. They put pictures of the article online and made fun of our newspaper for publishing it and continue to ridicule the county that I live in.

If you don't like it here then fine, move. Don't spend your time ridiculing where you live on the internet. If it upsets you that much, then try and change it. But don't make public all the negative aspects of a great town when there are so many positive ones.

I love my city, good and bad.